Illustrator & eco clothing designer

As well as being an illustrator I’m also an eco clothing designer and sew all my clothing entirely by hand. Over the years I’ve learnt some basics that have roved invaluable and that I use time and again. Today I’ll be guiding you through how to beat unsightly, fraying seams, using my latest project (a skirt).

So you have your sides sewn neatly together and are left with a raw edge. Turn your work inside out. Trim the edge using pinking shears if you didn’t do this when cutting your initial pieces of material. The zig-zag will prevent further fraying. You’ll need to make sure you have at least 1.5cm excess.

Fold one edge over on itself until the tips of the zig-zags slightly overlap the sewn edge, and pin into place. Do this all the way along, taking care not to accidentally pin to the excess material on the other side.

Do a simple running stitch all the way along to hold the fold, like below. Keep the stitches quite small and close together so it will look neat on both sides.

BackFront

Finish off in your usual way (I use a double knot)

You now need to do the same with the other bit of excess material. Repeat steps 1-5 on this bit.

Once you’ve done steps 1-5 on both edges, use a hot iron to press your hem open.

Turn your garment the right way, and you’ll be left with a neat, subtle line like the one below.